ISSUES

EducationAs a minority member on the House Education Committee and a former teacher, I am working hard to address the challenges faced by Indiana’s public schools. Students of all ages need the resources and tools to compete for stable, good-paint jobs. We need to better support public education.

Early Education: Ninety percent of brain development occurs by age 5, so investments in early education are crucial. High quality early education helps prevent developmental problems which require costly remediation later on, break the cycle of poverty, contribute to community well-being, and advance economic development. My goal is universal access to high quality pre-kindergarten education for three and four-year-olds. I applaud the strides in increased access to early education in Muncie, but our goal must be statewide access. With less than 10% of Indiana four-year olds enrolled in the On My Way to PreK pilot program, our state lags far behind most others. Investment in the early childhood years is the most life and cost-effective investment we can make for the future of our children and our state.

K-12 Education:

Vouchers: The diversion of public funds through private school vouchers has had a devastating effect on our public schools where over 90% of Hoosier children receive their education. I don’t oppose private education. However, Indiana can’t adequately fund public and private education systems. The founders of our country recognized that public education is the bedrock of democracy. It still is. Therefore, we should stop subsidizing education for the few and concentrate our resources on improving education for the many.

High Stakes Testing: Assessment and accountability are important, but schools, teachers, and students should not be judged by the results of a single high-stakes pass/fail test. ISTEP+ testing has not improved the caliber of our schools or the education our children receive; instead, it has heightened student frustration, reduced overall learning, and -combined with the drive to privatize education - created a statewide teacher shortage. We must spend less time on expensive, counterproductive testing and more time on quality teaching and learning, and we must treat our teachers like professionals. Our children deserve a first-rate education—one that ensures they are ready for college and careers.

Higher Education: Lifelong education is not just a slogan. It’s a necessity for Hoosiers and our economy. It’s clear that a high school diploma is not enough for 21st century workers. Higher education - whether that is a certificate, a two, four year or more degree - must be affordable for everyone. Over the years state funding of our public colleges and universities has declined, driving up tuition, which places a heavier burden on students and their families. Ivy Tech is a key to relieving that burden. Increased collaboration with public high schools at one end of the college and certificate education and our four-year universities at the other can make a significant cut in higher education costs. With smart and adequate state support, we can reduce tuition costs, making college affordable and providing prospective employers with a career-ready workforce. That means better jobs for Hoosiers, better employees for businesses, and a better economy for Indiana.

Like other states, Indiana has benefited from the improving national economic climate. However, that improvement isn’t finding its way into Hoosier pocketbooks. Indiana doesn’t need simply more jobs—we need better-paying jobs that enable workers—both men and women—to support their families. Attracting such jobs requires a well-educated workforce, so support for public education from pre-K to college is crucial. It means ending the gender pay gap: for every dollar a Hoosier man earns, a Hoosier woman earns 76 cents, a wider gap than the national average. Indiana also needs economic development strategies that recognize the importance of quality of place and diversity to compete for today’s young workers. And to ensure that working people earn sustainable wages, we must raise the minimum wage.

Expanding Healthcare Coverage: Because of the Affordable Health Care Act, the number of uninsured Hoosiers has dramatically decreased. Unfortunately, the Holcomb administration sought and received a waiver for a work requirement for Medicaid recipients and attempts to destroy the ACA have not ended. Access to quality healthcare is a basic human right. That’s why I support universal healthcare, so that all Hoosier families have access to quality care regardless of preexisting conditions and without work requirements.

Public Health Crises: We must work together to improve Indiana’s public health system. Inadequate public health infrastructure and investment have resulted in health crises, such as HIV, syphilis, and drug epidemics, as well as widespread Hepatitis C. Public health efforts must employ robust prevention measures, including needle exchange programs.

HPV Vaccination: The best hope for most cancers is to cure them. However, we now have a tool to prevent most cervical and oral cancers. Medical studies and programs implemented elsewhere have demonstrated that HPV vaccination in the middle school years effectively prevents the development of cervical cancer, as well as many oral cancers, in adults. Instituting an effective program in Indiana is an important step in preventing these cancers, and I have made it a priority to promote public policy that would help Indiana meet the national Healthy People 2020 goal of 80% vaccination rate for boys and girls by age 15 by the year 2020.

Women’s Reproductive Health: A woman who doesn't get pregnant doesn't have to make a choice about abortion. So instead of continually adding barriers to abortion access, the aim of legislators and public health agencies should be to support the prevention of unintended pregnancies. Abstinence education is fine, but it is not enough; I support comprehensive sex education and access to affordable contraception and family planning resources. When a pregnancy is unintended, I support a woman’s right to decide for herself what to do without state meddling. The choice belongs to a woman and her doctor, not to politicians mandating what the decision has to be.

Indiana’s environment is in trouble, and the statistics show it. Our overall environmental quality ranks 46th in the nation. We rank 8th in greenhouse gasses emissions, and 34th in the quality of our drinking water. Compared to the rest of the U.S., Hoosiers have the 3rd highest pollution-related health risk. As the ranking minority member on the Environmental Affairs Committee and a member of the Natural Resources Committee, I am working to improve the quality of Indiana’s environment.

Renewable Energy:

We must retire our aging coal plants and encourage the production of sustainable energy. By investing in clean, renewable energy, we will protect Hoosiers from the harmful effects of burning coal, while providing good-paying jobs and strengthening our economy.

We should put a price on carbon emissions.Currently the public pays for the negative impacts to health, environment, and climate from fossil fuel emissions. Putting a price on carbon shifts those costs back onto industry emitters. Revenue could be reinvested in renewable energy deployment and/or rebated back to consumers.

Public Transportation: : I support the Anderson-Muncie Transportation Coalition’s efforts to improve regional public transportation. A good mass transportation system offers communities affordable, safe, reliable, and convenient transportation choices and helps people who do not drive or who do not own cars to be more self-sufficient. It also reduces interstate and local traffic congestion while lowering fuel consumption. In short, good public transportation increases individual travel options, eases traffic problems, and positively impacts the environment and public health.

Mounds Greenway Proposal: Our woodland nature trails are under-appreciated jewels in Muncie and East Central Indiana. Greenways and trails add to the economic value of adjacent residential and commercial properties; they provide jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities related to recreation and tourism; and they encourage healthy lifestyles and strengthen families and communities by offering a setting for healthy exercise, stress-relieving recreation, and both individual and group activities and outings that help us reconnect with nature. A free-flowing river corridor also improves water quality; assists flood control; and provides a habitat for birds, fish, and other wildlife. In short, I support the Mounds Greenway proposal because it gives us a way to protect irreplaceable resources while boosting local economies and adding to our quality of life in Delaware and Madison Counties.

​No Hoosier should be subject to discrimination because of who they are. Both individuals and the state economy are still struggling to overcome the negative impact of RFRA, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. I support amending Indiana’s civil rights code to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. I also support passage of a hate crimes law. These laws can increase sentences when criminal liability is established and the motive is shown to be group hatred. Under current proposals, our judges would be clearly directed to consider the role of bias, if any, when sentencing someone a jury has found guilty. Indiana is one of only five states without a hate crimes law. We need to join the other forty-five states.

Indiana, the “Crossroads of America,” needs superior state and local streets, highways, and bridges. It was a surprise to me and most other Hoosiers to find that nearly all of the 7% state sales tax on gas did NOT go toward maintaining or repairing our transportation infrastructure, and what you pay at the gas pump mostly goes toward other projects. The General Assembly made good progress last year by passing a bipartisan bill aimed at repairing Indiana’s crumbling roads and bridges through a combination of dedicating more of the gas sales tax to infrastructure, a portion of Major Moves and tax amnesty funds, and a portion of the state’s $2 billion plus surplus. The bill provides two years of funding for state and local infrastructure without raising taxes. Before passing the bill, 1% of gas sales tax was directed toward highway funding; passage of the bill means that now, 2½% of every 7 cents of sales tax collected from gas sales goes towards both state and local roads. We need to maintain that momentum and build upon this success to keep the Crossroads of America safe and smooth.

​Indiana needs to address the opioid epidemic as a public health crisis, not simply a law enforcement issue. I support measures to combat opioid, meth and other drug addictions through education, prevention and treatment. Recovery and reentry programs that include workforce engagement are additional tools. Indiana should also legalize medical cannabis. Medical cannabis is already legal in 30 states and a growing string of studies is showing that cannabis access is associated with lower opioid use and abuse rates. In the war against addiction, cannabis is proving to be an exit drug, not a gateway drug.

​The congressional and state legislative maps are redrawn every ten years to reflect population changes revealed in the US Census. As the state population changes, some districts gain residents while others lose them. The maps are redrawn to balance the population in each district. The next redistricting will occur in 2021. Gerrymandering is the manipulation of these political district boundaries to favor one party, race or group over another. Indiana’s redistricting process gives the Indiana General Assembly the power to draw the district lines. In other words, the legislators are picking which voters live in their districts and which don’t - and they are using increasingly sophisticated data and computer software to draw the maps. Instead of voters picking their legislators, legislators are picking their voters. I support redistricting reform with an Independent Redistricting Commission to draw Indiana’s Congressional and state legislative maps through a fair and open process. The goal is compact, sensible districts in which cities and counties, as much as possible, are not split into different districts.